Vanius Girodo: first Joomla certified in Brazil

During the recent Joomla Day Brazil, the first Joomla certification in Latin America occurred. Vanius Girodo is the first Brazilian to pass the exam and JCM talked to him to know more details of his experience.

Joomla Community Magazine: Tell us about yourself as a professional

Vanius Girodo (VG): I consider myself an entrepreneur, and have since I was a child. I became a public servant of the Court of Audit of the State of Tocantins. However, I've always dreamed of having my own company. I had an advertising agency from 2010 to 2017. The blood of entrepreneurship keeps running in my veins and I have not abandoned my clients. I work with them as a freelancer and bring many new features, entrepreneurship, a methodology of startups for TCE, my projects and my life. Joomla is a marvel because it allows me to do amazing projects in any environment.

JCM: Where are you from?

VG: I'm from Belo Horizonte / MG but I'm living in Palmas / TO. Palmas is the youngest capital of Brazil, with only 29 years, located practically in the middle of Brazil. The State of Tocantins was created after the separation of the State of Goiás. Here we have a hot and dry climate. But it's really hot. Around 6AM it's already 30ºC and may go up to 45ºC throught the day. But Palmas is benefited by its natural beauty. On one side we have a wonderful mountain range and count with the Cerrado as main vegetation. From the other lake we have the lake, which was built after the installation of the Lajeado Hydroelectric Power Plant. Palmas has 79 cataloged waterfalls, each one more beautiful than the other. The State of Tocantins has beautiful natural beauties like the Jalapão Desert that you can, in a single photo, show the green of the forests, the orange of the desert dunes, the blue of the sky and the blue-green of the rivers and their springs.

JCM: Since when do you use Joomla?

VG: My Joomla story is pretty cool. We were introduced on September 1st, 2010, when a great friend resigned from TCE-TO. My manager knew that I did not like to develop websites and gave me the arduous task of taking over our intranet portal built on Joomla 1.0. On day 02, I had an intense training on Joomla 1.0 and I knew JoomlaDay Brazil would occur on 04/09. I looked at the price of air tickets to the city of Brasilia (800Km away) but due to date proximity, this became financially unfeasible. The other option was to go by bus, for a long 12 hours of travel. There, I learned a lot about Joomla 1.5 and saw the many possibilities that Joomla could offer me. I returned to Palmas and changed the focus of my company to work only with Joomla. In TCE-TO, I decided to update the intranet to Joomla 1.5 and also create the site. Since then, there are more than 40 Joomla sites on TCE-TO and over 120 Joomla sites for customers.

JCM: Currently, how do you use Joomla?

VG: At TCE, Joomla is the official tool. In my projects as a freelancer, it is Joomla, ALWAYS. Recently, I delivered a site of a hostel that has a medical clinic, which uses several different templates, one for each specialty and a website of a politician using the Komento extension, to offer a platform for voters to discuss the problems of our state and how we will solve them.

JCM: What led you to do the Joomla Certification?

VG: I would expect the version 4 certification to arrive soon, but I decided to take the opportunity to try it out. I wanted to do the certification to: 1.) see if I really know Joomla; 2.) tell the fanatical friends by WP that I am Joomla certified; and 3.) especially to have an extra differential to my clients and partners. After all, not everyone who makes websites, is certified. Still in doubt whether or not to sit for certification, a friend convinced me to take the exam, because according to him, I could be the first person from the state of Tocantins to hold this certification. Little did we know that I would be the first Brazilian to be certified in Latin America!

JCM: How did you prepare for the exam?

VG: The first thought was to put my test version in English, the official language. Then I read a lot about some subjects I rarely use such as a redirect and some native plugins. Then went on to train, test items and re-understand why I do some things on a daily basis, automatically.

JCM: Would you have any suggestions to improve the test?

VG: A Portuguese translation would greatly help the Brazilian community. I am already willing to help in this role. As for the exam, we could have a way to better distribute the questions so that various issues can be addressed in the certification. More than 50% of my proof was about menus, menu items, and articles. I also really missed receiving the certificate so I can print and put it on my wall.

JCM: What tips could you share with others who are considering taking the exam?

Do your training in English, is the main tip. Today, English is the main language of the world. Read, install Joomla, do everything in English and only then translate it into your official language.